A Decade in the Making: What Next for Young People in England?

A Decade in the Making: What next for young people in England? We would like to thank Teach First, Cambridge Assessment and the YHA for generously supporting this publication.

The Centre for Education and Youth is a ‘think and action-tank’. We believe society should ensure all children and young people receive the support they need to make a fulfilling transition to adulthood. We provide the evidence and support policy makers and practitioners need to support young people.

We use our timely and rigorous research to get under the skin of issues affecting young people in order to shape the public debate, advise the sector and campaign on topical issues. We have a particular interest in issues affecting marginalised young people. www.cfey.org

Teach First is an education charity working to build a fair education for all. We support the schools tackling the biggest challenges, those serving the children most in need. We recruit and train talented teachers, develop school leaders, and connect schools to each other, to experts and to supporters who can make a difference. www.teachfirst.org.uk

Cambridge Assessment helps learners demonstrate and fulfil their potential. We care about making a difference for every learner. As a department of the University of Cambridge, we provide education programmes and exams in over 170 countries, offering global recognition. We unlock the power of education for millions of learners of all ages and abilities.

We have unrivalled depth of experience in national education systems, international education and English language learning. We are an international not-for-profit organisation with unique strengths and 160 years of expertise. Our qualifications are backed by the largest research capability of its kind. We support and learn from teachers, schools and governments. Together, we are shaping education and creating a confident future for learners. www.cambridgeassessment.org.uk

YHA’s network of over hostels across England and Wales is the route to a world of experiences, providing affordable places at which anyone and everyone can find adventure and enrichment.

We have a history to be proud of, a trusted brand and a loyal membership. We are a youth organisation, but we serve all ages – providing adventures, opportunities and employment. We own and maintain properties of local significance and protect access to heritage. We are not primarily an environmental organisation, but we are well placed to contribute to the protection of the natural world. We are not a mental health organisation, but residentials, physical activity, being outdoors and culture all lead to greater wellbeing. We are not a hotel chain, but we must maintain the highest standards for overnight stays, food and customer service. We work with nearly 500 000 young people every year and our YHA Strategy 2020 looks to increase our reach and impact. We are looking for both input and new partnerships to help us with ambitious goals and you can read more www.yha.org.uk A Decade in the Making: What next for young people in England?

Foreword: Mary Myatt, Chair of The Centre for Education and Youth 4 Introduction: Loic Menzies and Anna Trethewey, Chief Executive and Executive Director of the Centre for Education and Youth 5 Amanda Spielman: Reasons to be cheerful about education 7 Nadia Paczuska: Collaboration across and beyond schools 9 Emma Hardy MP: A system we can work with, rather than against 11 Russell Hobby: Education and the redistribution of power 13 Anita Kerwin-Nye: It’s time to challenge the power structures 15 Yetunde Kehinde: Stand up and advocate 17 Luke Billingham: More relationships, deeper change and fewer fads 19 Tim Oates CBE: Follow the research, follow the evidence 21 Laura McInerney: Customised Schools 23 Geoff Barton: We need to stop being victims 25 Conclusion 27 Foreword: Mary Myatt, Chair of The Centre for Education and Youth

Mary is an education the way they work, or secured funding adviser, writer to expand their work with young people. and speaker. She Meanwhile, as Amanda Spielman herself notes, trained as an RE a culture of evidence based scrutiny and teacher and taught engagement with research has grown up in the English, history, last decade which we have played a big role maths and Latin in in developing, as our track record of media Ipswich. A former coverage and topical, evidence-based blogs local authority shows. adviser and inspector, she works in schools talking to pupils, teachers and leaders about The Centre for Education and Youth will learning, leadership and the curriculum. She continue to probe the underlying causes of has authored a number of books on education disadvantage. It will continue to ask important including “High Challenge Low Threat” which questions of those holding the levers of has been described as “a cult must-have for power, both within and beyond the sector, education professionals” whilst always offering credible alternatives. It will continue to propose better structures that enable professionals working with young people to do their jobs more effectively. It will It is important to mark milestones continue to use timely and rigorous research by way of tribute to the work done to get under the skin of issues affecting young and by pausing to imagine what might people in order to shape the public debate, come next. advise the sector and campaign on topical issues. We have much to be proud of from our time as LKMco. We have spent ten years as Most of all, The Centre for Education and a ‘think and action-tank’, working to identify Youth will continue to make the case that the the underlying barriers standing in the way of next decade must be better than the last. This positive educational experiences and fulfilling publication marks the first step in us plotting prospects for all young people, particularly that path forward. those who are marginalised. It was our research that pushed the issue of teacher We are delighted that so many have recruitment and retention up the agenda and contributed to this publication and we hope which went on to shape many of the solutions that many more of you will join us in the currently being implemented. We know - decade to come, whether by reading our work, thanks to a back catalogue of eight years of participating in our research, commissioning social impact reports , that as a result of our our support or funding our impact. support, dozens of organisations have changed

4 Introduction: Loic Menzies and Anna Trethewey, Chief Executive and Executive Director of the Centre for Education and Youth

On the surface, the short essays in this If Nadia Paczuska, a head teacher in Lowestoft collection appear to be very different. who “celebrates the acknowledgement that schools cannot simply be exam factories” is Some focus on technology, others on youth anything to go by, the changes Amanda refers clubs, others still on policy and accountability. to will be welcomed by many in the profession. Perhaps that is not surprising given that our However, according to the MP Emma Hardy, work has always bridged the gaps between there is a long way to go and the green shoots the various groups and influences that shape of more meaningful accountability are far from young people’s transition to adulthood. secure. Moreover, as Nadia and Russell Hobby point out, success will depend on addressing However, look below the surface, and a under-funding and securing and retaining the number of key themes come to the fore. teachers our young people need. As Russell argues, teachers are not just needed to staff The Chief inspector of schools Amanda Spielman kicks things off. She shares her reasons to be cheerful, reflecting on errors the The green shoots sector has made in the past and presenting a hopeful vision of where recent changes might of more meaningful lead us. Importantly, she introduces the theme accountability are far of a more holistic education - a theme that re- from sucure emerges throughout this collection.

5 Throughout their pieces, it is encouraging to see contributors to this report touch on many of the themes and principles behind our work. Amanda highlights the need to look at issues that sit below the radar, something we have always done, both by staffing our team with former teachers and youth workers and by engaging closely with sector professionals and the young people they work with. Touch- our schools, they are needed to pave the way stone topics from the last decade of our work for social justice and empowerment. also come to the fore in several pieces in this collection, including teacher recruitment and Questions of empowerment and social justice retention, accountability, the need of a vibrant lie at the heart of several other contributors’ third sector that goes beyond what schools visions for the next decade too. For Anita can provide, and the oft-misunderstood role of Kerwin-Nye, the voices and actions of people aspirations. and communities hold the potential to rebalance power and create a more inclusive future for our young people. Yetunde LKMco played a central Kehinde’s rousing piece suggests her and her role in the big debates peers will need little encouragement in order that defined the sector to grab that gauntlet, but as Luke Billingham, a community and youth worker points out, this over the past ten years cannot happen in a ‘faddish’ way, since well- intentioned initiatives too often end up riding rough-shod over the very people they claim to LKMco played a central role in the big debates empower. that defined the sector over the past ten years. We did not always get our way, but we Several other contributors point to alternative know that at a policy level, we not only nudged levers for shifting power. Tim Oates argues things in a better direction than they might that research and evidence can guide us to have gone otherwise, but we also shaped empowerment through knowledge, and he is concrete changes. Meanwhile on the ground, not alone in calling for the evidence informed dozens of organisations and thousands of policy and practice that our own organisation practitioners have supported millions of young exists to foster. For Laura McInerney - who people in new and more evidence-informed helped build the foundations of The Centre for ways thanks to the support we have provided. Education and Youth, it is parents who will lead the charge in reshaping education provision, As the Centre for Education and Youth, our but for Geoff Barton, it is professionals like commitment now is to make the next decade school leaders who need to stand up, stop a better and fairer one, ensuring that society being victims and claim their professional helps all children and young people make a autonomy and authority. fulfilling transition to adulthood.

6 Amanda Spielman: Reasons to be cheerful about education

Amanda Spielman interest, fuelled by online opportunities but has been Ofsted also translating into many blogs, events, Chief Inspector publications, friendships and creative since January 2017. partnerships. Between 2011 and 2016, Amanda was And a big part of this engagement is an interest chair of Ofqual, in research and evidence. More and more the qualifications people want to see ideas tested and to be regulator. From 2005 sure that what they take into classrooms has she was a founding member of the leadership the greatest chance of success. Increasingly team at Ark Schools, where she became teachers are recognising that what matters Research and Policy Director and an education is not just whether activity x has educational adviser to Ark, the education charity. She value or not: every child’s time at school is previously spent more than fifteen years in finite, so we owe it to children to design an strategy consulting, finance and investment education that makes the best use of that time. and is a council member at Brunel University London. She has previously served on the boards of organisations including the Institute “Data measures cannot of Education, STEMNET and the Wales Millennium Centre, and has been a governor of bear the whole weight two schools. of defining quality of education… we understand what goes On the day we learned who our new wrong when too much Prime Minister would be, I was speaking weight hangs on results… at an education event. the human perspective I found myself reflecting on encouraging is also necessary” trends in education over the past decade, many of which get far less celebration that they should. Then there is the recognition that while educational measurement usefully serves First of all, we are seeing a whole different many purposes, data measures cannot level of teacher engagement in discussion and bear the whole weight of defining quality of development of every aspect of education education. Twenty years on from those early itself. The renewed conversations about performance tables, we understand what goes curriculum are just one aspect of a remarkable wrong when too much weight hangs on results burgeoning of intellectual and practical (and yes, as always, I acknowledge that Ofsted

7 has been part of this). We all now recognise that educational success is a multifaceted construct, which can never be entirely captured through data measures: the human perspective is also necessary.

We are also increasingly willing to make the difficult stuff discussable, and orthodoxies challengeable. Problems that have existed under the radar for years are acknowledged and discussed. The distortions of education around coursework that went undiscussed for years are just one; children coming off school rolls for the wrong reasons are another. We increasingly recognise that there are real threats to integrity in education, and that the best way to address them is to discuss them openly, without lobbing virtual grenades. There are still areas where strong vested interests do their best to shut down open discussion, but these seem to be getting fewer, and I believe we can sustain this direction.

Finally, and building on all these trends, I believe we continue to embrace high aspirations for all our children, and in an increasingly grounded way, which makes them more realisable. It is not just ‘you ought to be aiming for the Moon’, but ‘you ought to be aiming for the Moon, which means accomplishing a number of stages, and here is how we can do our best to make it possible for you to work your way successfully through each stage’. This is ultimately how we do our best for all children, but most of all for those who for whatever reason have a difficult journey to make.

In sum, while big challenges remain, and there is and will always be room for improvement on all our parts, I see much to be cheerful and optimistic about: and above all, our teachers and everyone who works in schools.

8 Nadia Paczuska: Collaboration across and beyond schools

Nadia is Headteacher experience include shifting into a MAT, getting of Phoenix St used to a radically different curriculum Peter Academy in and accountability framework, coping with Lowestoft. significant funding decreases and managing She moved from ever greater recruitment and retention London to Suffolk challenges. Somehow my team has managed, in 2016 to lead a but I long for a time when it is more than struggling school ‘managing’, a time when all our children can as part of the thrive. Government’s Talented Leaders Programme. Nadia is committed to addressing social disadvantage through school leadership “I long for a time and closing the achievement gap between when it’s more than disadvantaged children and their more privileged peers. ‘managing’, a time when all our children can thrive”

I have been teaching for 22 years and in that time I have seen innumerable policy I love what I do and feel sure that the changes. profession will always attract hard working people who will devote themselves to doing However, the one constant has been that their best for children’s learning. I have a there have always been, and always will be strong, committed team who teach with children who urgently need to learn. For me, bleeding hearts and believe anything is remembering that has always been a priority - possible. But we need to recruit more people, we owe our pupils more than just an ability to make the profession more attractive to a wider ‘ride the policy waves’. range of people and create new routes into teaching. People talk about raising the status Ten years ago I was working as a year 6 teacher of teaching, but teaching already has status in London primary school. The school was a and can be hugely fulfilling. I tell my team how ‘satisfactory’ local authority school. Ten years cool they are every single morning, because on I am head teacher of a school in a coastal they are. Teaching is a superpower and we town that ‘requires improvement’. Both should be shouting this from the rooftops to schools serve high numbers of disadvantaged prospective teachers, including people from all pupils and both schools face significant walks of life. challenges but I experienced them in different policy settings. Although I work for a successful MAT, I recognise that not all of them are and can see Changes which have impacted on my recent that decentralisation of services has created

9 uneven provision. I accept the MAT structure to achieve great results. is one I will be working in until I cannot work anymore. A return to the local authority model In order to do this, MAT leaders will need is unlikely, but we need to make the current to work with head teachers to identify and model effective. address major issues and also collaborate with each other to build a structure that It is important that school leaders can works. Meanwhile, at a national level we need contribute to shaping education policy, and a sharper approach on training, recruitment organisations like The Centre for Education and retention (look at the Territorial Army, and Youth, which listen to head teachers and their adverts make me want to go and be a respond to the challenges individual schools soldier!). Recruiting committed people will and communities face, are much needed. secure stability.

I welcome recent changes to the Crucially we also need an intelligent response inspection framework and celebrate the to the widening achievement gap between acknowledgement that schools cannot simply rich and poor. The best way would be to end be exam factories. It may sound naive but I private schooling and parental choice and hope to move to a place of greater integrity. make every school a good school. It can be I hope we can start discussing the real issues done. Holland is a good example, but we may facing young people. And by that I mean all be a few years off that yet. young people. I look forward to a system that embraces multiagency working again, in which It is time to redefine success in education. schools work together despite being run by Social circumstances cannot continue to different MATs and I hope we can create a create obstacles to achievement. Until we system that acknowledges the deep challenges change that we cannot provide a world class some communities face, recognising this by education in the UK. giving them the resources they need in order

“Teaching is a superpower and we should be shouting this from the rooftops”

10 Emma Hardy MP: A system we can work with, rather than against

Emma is Labour network states, “Although it’s impossible to MP for Hull West attribute the rising rates of exclusions to the and Hessle and a new national curriculum and assessment member of the arrangements, the rise does coincide with House of Commons’ these changes… Our members tell us that a Education Select push for a hundred percent Ebacc entry has Committee. She led to a narrowing of the curriculum, and completed a PGCE therefore disengagement from some of the at the University of most vulnerable learners.” ¹ Leeds in 2004 and taught for over ten years before becoming a full-time organiser for the National Union of Teachers. She campaigned “Ofsted’s new as Deputy General Secretary of the Socialist inspection handbook Educational Association as well as organising has pushed back and hosting the Northern Rocks education conferences in Leeds. against the narrowing of the curriculum”

The controversy over Gove’s legacy But there are green shoots of change. Ofsted’s continues. new inspection handbook has pushed back against the narrowing of the curriculum In one corner stand those who supported him by insisting schools need to be “broad and and who continue to highlight the “increased balanced.” The inspectorate has repeatedly number of good and outstanding schools”. stated that schools will not be judged solely In the other stand those who highlight the on results and instead be judged more increasing number of children no longer able holistically. They argue this will, “de-intensify to fit into the mainstream school system, the inspection focus on performance data the forgotten children, the children with and place more emphasis on the substance of special needs and disabilities, and the ever education and what matters most to learners increasing number of children who are ‘off and practitioners.” ² rolled’ because of an unforgiving school accountability system bent on punishing However these green shoots could easily be schools that genuinely try to be inclusive. killed off. So long as Nick Gibb remains as Schools Minister it is impossible to believe As Tom Middlehurst of the SSAT schools there will be a real change of direction, or a

1 - https://www.ssatuk.co.uk/blog/timpson-review-is-largely-welcome-but-raises-serious-concerns/ 2 - https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/education-inspection-framework-2019-inspecting-the- substance-of-education/education-inspection-framework-2019-inspecting-the-substance-of-education 11 recognition that the last decade’s reforms have “The attainment bar been anything other than a roaring success. Instead, I fear we could end up with more of might continue to rise the same; the attainment bar might continue to and an ever-narrower rise and an ever-narrower curriculum would be curriculum would the price to pay - all in pursuit of a politicised definition of ‘knowledge.’ Meanwhile, continued be the price to pay underfunding of education risks resulting in - all in pursuit of a ever-more children being home educated, more politicised definition pupils being ‘off rolled’ and spiralling demand for of ‘knowledge’” specialist SEND provision. A better future for education and young people is possible. When Edward Timpson gave evidence to us at the Education Select Committee he suggested a different way of measuring achievement for children who are returning to mainstream after being expelled. This was not just about academic results. Instead it would take into account a wider range of achievements. Like me, he acknowledged that the “new Ofsted framework is moving in that direction” but recognised that it was an argument that still needed winning and that although many schools try to do the best by every child, too often they have to act “despite the current accountability measures rather than because of it.” ³

Over the next decade I therefore hope we will devise an accountability system that enables all children to show progression in a wide variety of fields. I would like all our schools to be shaped around the individual rather than the whims of government, and for our schools to have the resources required to meet every child’s needs.

Only then will all our children and young people thrive in, and beyond our schools, wherever they are in the country.

3 - http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/education- committee/accountability-hearings/oral/103503.html 12 Russell Hobby: Education and the redistribution of power

Russell joined Does globalisation reduce the size of your Teach First as grocery bill or the size of your pay packet? Chief Executive Does the infrastructure always go to the towns in September down south? 2017 building on more than 15 For some young people, the tomorrow they years developing are offered just does not seem very inspiring, and promoting so what does it mean for young people to have leadership in schools. a stake in the future? Prior to joining Teach First Russell was General Secretary of the National Association of Head It means the power to make their own choices. Teachers (NAHT), which represents over To take a shot at the opportunities out 29,000 school leaders in the UK and before there, and claim their benefits. To see how to that worked as a management consultant, navigate from where they are to where they founding Hay Group’s education practice. want to be. To have the skills and knowledge Russell is a trustee of Bounce Forward and the they need. Brilliant Club. Education can provide that stake in the future. Education is the difference between spectating and performing, between alienation and It feels like we live in difficult times – and taking part. It tips the balance from threat to that is particularly the case for young opportunity. A great education for everyone is people. the foundation of a just society, and only a just society can rediscover its common ground. Right now, we risk losing their confidence that tomorrow can be better than today. Despite the dedication of so many fantastic teachers, not everybody gets access to that Underpinning this unravelling is, I think, a basic great education. In fact, it is a bitter irony that failure of justice. those who already start with less, are too often We have not worked hard enough to ensure that every young person has a stake in the future. If you do not feel that you will benefit “Education is the from change in some way, then change is not difference between an opportunity, it is a threat. If the future does not belong to you, why would you work hard spectating and to build it or protect it? performing, between alienation and Does technology connect you to kindred spirits or force you into a zero hour contract? taking part”

13 deprived of the means to more, since the outcomes of education are too often carved “Justice does not come up along the lines of wealth, class, race and from charity. It privilege. Teachers are here to change that. comes from the But justice does not come from charity. It redistribution of power. comes from the redistribution of power. Teachers are not saviours. They do not rescue young people from their circumstances. Teachers are not Nor should they lead them away from their saviours. They do not communities. rescue young people from They give young people the power to change their circumstances” their own circumstances as they see fit. They give choices, options, a map of the future There is nothing original or profound in these ahead. So let the next ten years be the decade suggestions yet we seem to neglect them. of the teacher. Let’s make it an attractive Perhaps because they are less dramatic and profession once more for our most talented harder work, than sweeping structural reforms. graduates and career switchers. This means paying people properly but it also means Put simply, investment in teachers and schools treating them properly. is the best investment we can make in young people over the next ten yars. Teachers When we have got people in we need to equip redistribute power, giving young people them to succeed with high quality training a choice, a chance and a stake in the next throughout their careers and the resources decade. and curricula to put that training into effect.

14 Anita Kerwin-Nye: It’s time to challenge the power structures

Anita is a charity changes are needed to improve outcomes for leader, author all, rather than just those best able to navigate and expert in the system. education, access and inclusion. She is a long-time advocate “Why is it that those of enrichment who stand to benefit the activity, in and most from enrichment out the classroom and joined YHA in 2018 as Director of are often those with Strategy & Engagement, having founded The least access to such Communication Trust and Whole School opportunities?” SEND. Anita runs AKN Consulting and founded Every Child Should. Anita lived the gig economy before it was a thing; became a social 1. Put user voice and power in governance entrepreneur before it became fashionable; The top twenty charities take the most charity and, was a flexible worker ahead of it becoming funding – a model we can see emerging in a legal right. She can be found on Twitter being schools. But the charity sector is learning the provocative, pushy, positive and progressive in, risks of leaving users behind and getting too broadly, equal measures. large. Charity governance is far from perfect as we have seen in a number of high profile cases, but there is a shift coming. After decades of assuming professionalisation of the charity My work has always taken place in the sector meant trustees from business, charities space between charities and schools, are starting to recognise the importance of where I am preoccupied with the question user voice and power in governance. Many of of access. the challenges in education and youth work have come from the failure to value the voices Why is it that those who stand to benefit the of those that organisations exist to serve. most from enrichment - from a broader range of life experiences and ‘the extra-curricular’ 2. Engage with a new model for - are often those with least access to such campaigning opportunities? This problem now extends into Social media connects those who were schools themselves where some children and previously isolated. Increasingly, communities young people are pushed out of the education are creating their own solutions independent system and where school choice is, in practice, of (or despite) government structures and only an option for the most able. traditional charities. This growing lobby is So, as we look to the ten years ahead, what challenging the existing power bases of astro- might a rethinking of civil society mean for turfers and privately funded lobbyists. access to education and youth work? Five

15 Parents of children with disabilities have of the focus on data that has helped drive led the pressure on government – even to some outcome improvement. But we need to the point of legal action. Communities are balance this with an honesty that there are lies, demanding to be represented in governance damn lies, statistics and school data! Yes, move systems. Young people are leading the lobby from the ‘bigotry of low expectations’ – but on the environment. Engaging with them – accept the real impact of adverse childhood hearing their stories – is a must for those of us experiences. Let’s admit that ‘EBacc and who believe in equity. Russell Group Crammers’ are fine as a choice but let’s celebrate and reward schools that are 3. Know the import of local power and broad, rounded and inclusive. Covert selection community assets and narrow curriculum will always lead to best Over the next ten years we have to support grades if that is what we value most but other the potential and rise of the local; local like schools still make the academic cut – they just Moulescoomb Community Forest Garden and take the harder path. Wildlife Project in Brighton who connect local schools to nature. Working on a shoestring 5. Build universal provision providing holiday play and connecting Over the next decade we will no doubt build generations. Linking to the community owned on our understanding of effective targeted pub The Bevy that provides work experiences provision but we also need to remember the to the local secondary school and provides importance of universal services. We need to access to arts and culture. rebuild a universal entitlement for all young people, services that are not about addressing Larger organisations including the public a deficit but are about enrichment, community sector and funders need to respond with cohesion and self-development. This balance support that provides resources, reduces red- is a core part of our strategy at YHA – we tape and builds with partnerships. want to use our resource to support the young people who could benefit the most, 4. Value schools as community assets but we also recognise that the real power Schools remain the biggest resource for comes in the mix of generations, cultures and education and youth work. But going forward backgrounds that takes place in every one of we need to reimagine schools as being at our hostels. centre of their community. Yes, keep some There have been many positive developments over the last ten years – and the work of “Let’s celebrate and bodies like The Centre for Education and reward schools that Youth has prompted new discussions, are broad, rounded partnerships and solutions. But we are at a tipping point in the renewal of civil society and and inclusive and that we now need to disrupt existing power bases. understand their role as assets for the all” The question is, are we brave enough to reimagine a new way?

16 Yetunde Kehinde: Stand up and advocate

Yetunde is a my community and there are definitely places student at the that are overlooked. Abbey Wood, where I live London Academy is just not as developed as some other areas of Excellence who and I see the issue of knife crime in many parts describes herself of London when people are socialising with as “a goal oriented the wrong people and getting into trouble young activist”. As without people’s parents necessarily knowing. an ambassador for My school is like a shining star that shows me an environmental anything is possible, but I have to travel a long charity, she seeks to further her voice and way to get to it and the standard of education broadcast her concerns nationally and can be inadequate, resulting in poor pass rates internationally. She is looking to pursue her and diminished prospects when it comes to interest in Geography in Higher Education and, higher education. eventually to travel, explore the world and go from there. “My school is like a shining star that shows

Over the last ten years I have seen me anything is possible, increasing access to better education. but I have to travel a long way to get to it” There are a lot of schools pushing the agenda when it comes to young people’s potential and there are access projects for all young people If all communities are to get better which create a more even playing field. opportunities then it is crucial for us to Many projects particularly target black and have more youth centres dotted around the minority ethnic groups in a really positive way, country. Not everyone has a family they can showing us our potential and developing our talk to and lots of young people need a hub talents by making sure we have access to the where they can socialise rather than being at best information. Just yesterday I was at an home depressed on their phones. Youth Clubs event with Cambridge University’s Black and can also provide things that might not be Minority Ethnic network. They try to make available in people’s schools like extra tuition, university a more positive experience and support and mentoring. First and foremost, addressed lots of our questions about highly this would improve their social skills but it selective universities and I am going to another would also really improve people’s happiness in September in Oxford. and wellbeing, taking them out of their norm and giving them a place where they can talk However, on the other hand, I have not about the issues they are facing. necessarily seen improvements in livelihoods in

17 If we are going to make these changes in the next decade, it is young people who need to “Sometimes you need be involved. If you want something to change to be the one to go out then, if you are the one being affected, it is essential for you to be the one who goes out and advocate rather and advocates rather than relying on others to than relying on others make changes years down the line. It all needs to make changes years to start with young people and the other people who are affected otherwise things get down the line. It all overlooked. There are great examples of young needs to start with people leading petitions on platforms like young people” change.org and these can be quite powerful. You cannot just continue on without putting your hand up and being seen. You need to get these issues acknowledged.

The first step is to find others who will support your ideas and plans because a collective voice is so much more powerful. That is what creates a collective proposition.

Over the next ten years, those with power need to encourage these types of actions by listening carefully and spotting people with potential, finding out what they are thinking and helping them. It was really refreshing to see so many young people being nominated as #iWill ambassadors and that recognition all started with the person who nominated them.

In the future I want to travel the world, there is so much to explore internationally and I want to learn about global issues including conservation.

18 Luke Billingham: More relationships, deeper change and fewer fads

Luke Billingham care systems, and mental health services is a youth and who beautifully transform people’s sense community worker of themselves, and genuinely reorient their at Hackney Quest, a lives. These can be places where people are long-running youth not afraid to talk about love and hope, and and community mention them far more than referral forms centre in Hackney, and risk. where he is involved in mentoring, The Wellbeing Centre in Pentonville Prison is exclusion prevention, youth voice and the most striking example of this that I have community development projects. Luke is also seen; providing warmth and care within the Head of Strategy at Reach Children’s Hub, an harshest possible context. Places like these innovative new charity providing cradle-to- are all the more valuable at a time when far career support for children and young people too many services and institutions are either in Feltham, South-West London, and is a closing down, or have become so punitive and trustee of Haven Distribution, the books-to- transactional that they serve to diminish and prisoners charity. belittle rather than support and encourage.

I am also given hope by the community groups, activists and politicians who are fighting for The places and people that give me hope deep, broad-ranging structural changes. These are those that provide the best conditions structural changes are necessary if we are to for individuals and communities to rectify the grotesque inequality, poverty and achieve mental, social and material marginalisation that blights our society. wellbeing. As we step into the next decade, we need more Youth and community centres nationwide places to nurture our most vulnerable young (those that we still have) provide a second people, and more radical change to reduce home and a shedload of love. Our best the hardship and demoralisation that are at schools are not only committed to fostering their students’ passion for learning, but they also provide a warm, inclusive environment, “Structural changes are informed by a rich understanding of necessary if we are to attachment, relationship-building and trauma. This is all paired with a gargantuan quantity of rectify the grotesque mutual respect. inequality, poverty and marginalisation that There are individual professionals in our schools, hospitals, charities, prisons, social blights our society”

19 the root of most social problems. The former result in young people being asked to re-live without the latter would just be sticking their trauma on stage for a privileged audience, plasters on a gaping wound; the latter without again, for free. the former would be a cold kind of revolution. The point is not that we need fewer good Alongside this, we need to avoid falling into the ideas, or that they should never become too trap of fads. Unfortunately these are infecting popular, but that the precision and rigour of the world of community work and charities. our thinking and our self-reflection should Much like fads such as ‘flipped learning’ rarely increase in tandem with the power and had the desired effect in schools, in the influence of the concepts we’re wielding. community sector we are now finding that innovative, important ideas are becoming Over the next ten years, I therefore hope bastardised, to the point that they are devoid we will implement new ideas in meaningful, of meaning. At worst, ideas that aim to rigorous, and authentic ways - grounding empower have the opposite effect in practice. them in front-line experience and professional expertise, and I hope that support and ‘Co-production’ can mean cajoling ‘service- resources are finally directed towards the users’ and stealing their ideas for free. ‘Systems deep-rooted relationships and societal change change’ can mean hours of chat with a lot that should always be community sector’s twin of post-it notes and very little insight, and focus. ‘recognising the value of lived experience’ can

20 Tim Oates CBE: Follow the research, follow the evidence

Tim Oates joined Cambridge “In thinking about Assessment in May the future of general 2006 to spearhead the rapidly growing education, we had Assessment better base policy Research and and practice on the Development division. His work right theories” has included advising on a pan-European 8-level qualifications framework and chairing point of mercury - but human knowledge and the UK government’s national curriculum understanding consists of conceptual arrays review. Tim was awarded CBE in the 2015 New far more complex than those associated with Year’s Honours for services to education. discrete facts. Immediate extrapolation from a curve on a graph; excluding possible alternative explanations; diagnosing problems; all of these require the person to have extensive cognitive Education is an area full of resources. prognostications about the future - many of them empty and hollow. All the evidence of the UK longitudinal surveys and the work of cognitive scientists like Kurt The oft-heard ‘...children do not need to Fisher and Sarah Jane Blakemore suggests remember anything anymore, they can just that the cognitive resources possessed by look it up...’ runs counter to what we know the individual explain high performance, about brain structure and the processes of good professional progression and better life cognition. Young people who do not build outcomes. So in thinking about the future of up knowledge and understanding in their general education, we had better base policy long term memory will simply fail at higher and practice on the right theories. order complex tasks. Those without cognitive resources immediately ‘to hand’ from long Much like the ‘no need to remember’ fallacy, term memory will be overwhelmed by the the idea of ‘each child following their own demands of tasks which require integration of curriculum’ surfaces time and time again knowledge, complex discrimination and so on. during talk of the future. An appealing sense of schooling as personal consumption - your The people who talk of this ‘no need to choice of content, your choice of pace - runs remember things’ notion should pay more counter to evidence from high performing attention to the structure of knowledge. Too systems which have enhanced both attainment often they fail to grasp what human knowledge and equity in a sustained and impressive way. consists of. We may forget facts - like the name of the first president of Iceland or the boiling

21 Leading often to an unmanageable escalation in teacher load, this ‘each child on their own “There is clear evidence path’ model of differentiation hints at the that when children correct assumption that every child has to construct their own understanding of physical follow their preferences laws, concepts of power and authority, of in learning, it can the unconscious and so on, but loses a grip exacerbate systematic of the importance of guided construction of that knowledge. This can also undermine disadvantage, not opportunities for the social learning that attenuate it” results from groups of children tackling the same ideas at the same time. Worst of all, there is clear evidence that when children robust body of evidence we have about human follow their preferences in learning, it can learning, not ignore it. exacerbate systematic disadvantage, not attenuate it. And that is the thing - the future of education is what we make it. I therefore hope that over For sure, technology will feature hugely, and it the next ten years we will shape it using the is a topic on which most conversations about right models and principles. In fact, it should be the future of education are based. But the beyond ‘hope’ - it should be an evidence-based, models which underpin it need to build on the prudent process.

22 Laura McInerney: Customised Schools

Laura McInerney is the Guardian’s education columnist and co-founder of the daily survey tool, Teacher Tapp. Formerly a teacher for six years in East London, she was the Centre for Education and Youth’s first ever regular blogger before being taken to court by the education secretary for asking difficult questions about free schools. This only encouraged her, and so she switched into journalism full-time and went on to become the editor of Schools Week.

My child-raising friends’ jaws hit the “No customisation. ground when they are told they will not No upgrade package. get any meaningful choice when it comes to their child’s school. No drop-at-home service. For them, this In a world where our shopping can arrive in is an outrage” less than two hours; where apps teach us Swahili, or coding, or maths; where someone will pick up our laundry and deliver it back work, evening shifts, working from home: home; or we can have personalised workouts all are now far more common. Flexible work barked at us via in-home speakers, the lack means ‘always work’ for many. If you work for a of choice when it comes to school can seem company with offices in Shanghai or California incongruous. Parents, they can only provide a there is no reason, beyond social decency and preference and then they are told they must a desire for family time, that you can not take deliver their offsprungs to school at 9am and a conference call at either end of the day. (And pick them up at 3.30pm. No customisation. No who is concerned about such things when a upgrade package. No drop-at-home service. wage, and thereby a mortgage, is on the line?) For them, this is an outrage. Both shifts are likely to have a profound effect on schools over the next decade. First, While our customer service expectations are if parents expect to speak to Amazon at all changing, so, too, are labour markets. Weekend hours of the day, why would they not expect

23 to communicate with their child’s teacher whenever they want? After all, they leave “There is a gap in the messages for colleagues in other countries or market for private who work evenings - why not for Mrs Smith from Year 2? providers”

Secondly, as parents are forced into work patterns that differ to their children’s, there is a gap in the market for private providers to take advantage. A low-cost school offering its school hours across four days a week, thereby allowing parents to take their children away for long weekends, would sweep up among the management classes who regularly work away from home four days-a-week, but are freed on Fridays. A state school running classes from Wednesday to Sunday might clean up in areas where tourist trade demands many parents work weekends.

A school that combines online learning with in- school learning, in a way that enables children to take holidays flexibly, and provides parents with clear real-time data on their child’s learning, is likely to take the ultimate prize.

How quickly can this happen? What format will it take? And will the state fund it or will it be a gradual drip-feed from the private sector? I do not know. But the likelihood that we get to 2030 without a shift in at least a part of our schooling sector seems deeply unlikely. If an additional seven per cent of parents moved into the private sector, that would mean the sector’s numbers had doubled. It would cause a serious problem for state schools. We should not underestimate the possibility this could happen.

Over the next ten years, there is a good chance the status quo will at least begin to break down. And when change comes, it may come quickly.

24 Geoff Barton: We need to stop being victims

Geoff is General deal from their schools and colleges; most of Secretary of them go on to be successful, well-adjusted and the Association productive citizens. This does not just happen of School and by accident. It happens because of what we College Leaders, teach them, how we treat them, and the values representing 19,500 we instil. educational leaders across the UK. Prior Since I stepped out of running a school, to this, he was an and instead visit many schools and colleges English teacher and headteacher. across the UK, I see this far more powerfully, I see great, morally-driven, and generally understated, leadership at work.

As Tess in Tess of the d’Urbervilles says, “Once a victim, always a victim! That’s “Education in the the law, isn’t it?” UK is far better than I think of those words often. I am weary of we generally allow those of us who work in education too often ourselves to say publicly being presented as, and perhaps too often or even tell ourselves feeling, that we are the victim profession, with too many things done to us rather than by us privately” – conditions of service, the curriculum, control of professional qualifications. That said, a worrying number of pupils do not At some point – if we are to recruit better, benefit as they need to, and many of them live retain better, and tell a better story of what we in fragmented communities. In some of these do – we need to stop being the victim in all of areas, education has for too long been seen as this. irrelevant or part of the problem rather than part of the solution, so of course we have got My hope is that in the coming few years, we work to do there. Part of that involves giving can all regain our professional self-confidence the ‘Forgotten Third’ - who after twelve years and talk more proudly of why teaching matters of education get a grade 3 or lower in GCSE so much. English or maths – something that gives them the dignity of a qualification. Here is what I mean: education in the UK is far better than we generally allow ourselves to say Then there is the need for us to realign publicly or even tell ourselves privately. Many ourselves with parents when it comes to children and young people get a very good what education is actually for. The current

25 accountability system – narrowly mechanistic, College of Teaching, needs to be given real data-driven, reductive – describes education responsibility, in other words, the trust that in the language of ‘measures’, ‘performance’, is granted to other such organisations. It ‘chains’ and ‘accountability’. This fails to needs to become the voice of the profession, resonate with the real stuff of what we deal the conscience of the profession and the with. It is surely better for us to talk about natural home for the national qualifications ‘children’ and ‘learning’ and ‘pedagogy’ and of standards for teaching, subject and senior ‘leadership’ - language that describes what our leadership. In doing so, the profession stands core business is and what we are happy to be up and says: this is who we are, this is what we held accountable, because after all, it is what believe in, and here are the standards that we – we get up every morning to do. not the politicians – will set.

One more thing – and it is perhaps the key to Once a victim, always a victim: it is time to everything above. If teaching is to step up and show that such 19th century fatalism no longer be recognised as a profession alongside others, applies to the teaching profession. then our professional body, the Chartered

“This is who we are, this is what we believe in, and here are the standards that we – not the politicians – will set”

26 Conclusion: The work we do visiting young people To realise the visions that contributors to this and those who work with them in report have set out we need to engage with, schools, homeless centres, and youth and welcome this complexity. The complexity clubs around the country makes of defining and measuring educational it impossible not to recognise the success; the complexity of recruiting and challenges highlighted by contributors to training practitioners with the extraordinary this collection. talent needed to bring the best out in young people; the complexity of ensuring young There is no doubt that our society will people, their parents and their teachers have struggle to ensure all children and young the power and autonomy needed to change people make a fulfilling transition to the future. adulthood whilst educational attainment remains stratified by family background As will be clear to the reader, the authors and community context, and whilst the included in this collection disagree on the opportunities children can access continue answers to these important questions – to differ so dramatically - as Yetunde so which is part of the reason we asked them to eloquently points out with reference to her contribute. Over the next ten years it will be “shining star” of a school. our job - and our pleasure, to orchestrate this debate, inserting the evidence and research Yet the young people and practitioners that is needed, and telling the human stories whom we met as we criss-cross the country behind the facts and figures. inspire hope. In Newcastle recently we heard from young people who were homeless When navigation is complex, you need a when they first participated in our research, good map and we very much look forward to but who are now charging ahead with their providing it. lives, thanks to a combination of their own determination and the dedicated support of We hope that you might join us, whether committed professionals. Our recent work by reading our work, subscribing to our on Youth Social Action showed innumerable newsletter, contributing to our research, examples of young people’s dedication to commissioning a project, or funding us to creating positive change in their communities, grow our impact. reflecting the long-standing popularity of volunteering amongst 16-24 year olds. Please get in touch and let’s discuss how Meanwhile, we know that better policy has we can work together to make the next succeeded in cutting child poverty in the past decade a really good one for young people. and that it could do once again in the future. [email protected] The challenges young people face are complex, and it is therefore no surprise that the solutions are far from simple.

27 The Centre for Education and Youth is a ‘think and action-tank’. We believe society should ensure all children and young people receive the support they need to make a fulfilling transition to adulthood.

We provide the evidence and support policy makers and practitioners need to support young people.

[email protected] +44 203 4882765 @TheCfEY #DecadeInMaking